


Empyrean

by StarsInMyDamnEyes



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: (It may take a while to get there because I am a big fan of Taking A Long Time To Do Things), AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Callum Is A Dork, Callum’s birth dad is an elf, Canon-Divergent Season 3, Gen, Half-Elf Callum (The Dragon Prince), Liberties Taken with Xadian Geography, Platonic Relationships, Skywing Elves, adventures in xadia, changing canon events for no other reason than covenience and I Felt Like It, half-elf callum, slower-paced than canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:14:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22516054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsInMyDamnEyes/pseuds/StarsInMyDamnEyes
Summary: Having crossed into Xadia, Callum and Rayla are determined to complete their goal of returning the Dragon Prince to his home, and achieving peace between Xadia and the human kingdoms. However, as they traverse the elven continent, not even their wildest imaginations could have prepared them for what they would find.
Relationships: Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 110
Collections: Dragon and Elves, Half-Elf Callum Club, Not Just Human





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You know what they say - if you want more of the very specific AU that you like, you should probably write it yourself.

“That,” Callum said, eyes fixed ahead, “is a very big dragon.”

“You think?”

Rayla’s tone was dry, but her furrowed brow betrayed a kind of anxiety that she hadn’t previously exhibited, except maybe perhaps for that time with the water. Actually, Callum noted, she’d been a bit more freaked out at the water than the dragon. That was probably a good sign.

Right?

“So... Are we just gonna go past him, or...?”

“Callum,” Rayla said, following his gaze. “That’s Sol Regem.”

“Who’s Sol Regem?”

Rayla sighed, exasperation evident in her movement. “Sol Regem was the Dragon King before Avizandum, and he hates humans with a passion. So, to answer your question, no. We will not just _go past him_. He’ll burn you to death, and probably me too. Even if we do have the Dragon Prince with us.”

“That seems a little mean.”

“Nobody ever accused Sol Regem of being _nice,_ Callum. He’s big, he’s powerful, he’s ruthless, but doesn’t quite suit _‘nice’.”_

“So, what do we do, then? Sneak past him?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Rayla grinned. “And we don’t even have to be subtle about it. See his eyes? He was blinded by a dark mage.”

“So as long as he can’t hear us, he won’t know we’re there,” Callum said slowly.

“And smell. Dragons have a very keen sense of smell.”

Callum’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. How did one conceal a _smell_? Unlike being seen or being heard, being smelt didn’t seem like something that could be concealed by being careful of one’s surroundings and adjusting one’s movements to match.

“So, uh... Any ideas on how we stop him from smelling us?”

Rayla’s grin made another appearance. “As a matter of fact, I do!”

She fixed her eyes on him, and Callum blinked. Apparently, this would be the part where he figured out what she had come up with.

“I... have no idea how that would work.”

Rayla’s face dropped into a familiar expression of annoyance, and she huffed, a tad too dramatically for her disappointment to be sincere. “Are we, or are we not, travelling with a Sky mage in our little group?”

“Yeah...” Callum trailed off, before realising her implications. “Oh! Do you want me to do something with the wind?”

“Yes! Blow the smell of something innocuous over to him, and that will mask your scent by overpowering it!”

“Right!”

Smacking his forehead, Callum looked around to try and spot something scent-having he could... blow the scent of. Man, he really thought sneaking past a dragon would be cooler.

The landscape before them was rather barren, with red, rugged rocks and fine, golden sand stretching out as far as the eye could see. He cast a cursory glance at Rayla, who had also apparently realised the problem with the plan.

“So... Any other ideas?” Callum asked, somewhat lamely, as Rayla brought up a hand to scratch her head.

“Ugh,” she moaned, looking the picture of resignation. “Yes. It looks like it’s down to my least favourite course of action - reason.”

“You’re just going to ask the dragon to let us in?”

“Maybe if we tell him we have the Dragon Prince, he’ll let us through?”

“Or maybe he’ll eat me,” Callum said flatly.

“What choice do we have?”

“Go the long way around?”

“We can’t cross at the Breach!”

“What, there aren’t any other ways to cross into Xadia?”

Rayla fixed Callum with a familiar glare. “Not every elf knows every way into Xadia! Besides, the nearest ones that most of us know of are way too far away, and we can’t waste another month trekking along the Xadia border to find another entrance.”

“So we’ve got to pass Sol Regem.”

“Yes. Unfortunately.”

A brief moment of silence, punctuated only by a quiet chirp from Zym, passed between the two, before Callum suddenly brightened, eyebrows rising abruptly.

“I have an idea!”

“Let’s hear it,” Rayla sighed, but her eyes were attentive.

“So, you went to the human lands to kill King Harrow and Ezran, right? You can go up to him and say that you need to go back after the mission failed. Meanwhile, I can use Aspiro to blow your scent to him and sneak past with Zym!”

Rayla chewed her lip. “That’s not gonna work. If I can’t tell him that the reason I came back alone is because I found Zym, I’m going to look like a coward and a deserter!”

Callum opened his mouth, and closed it, before falling back into a hunched posture, surveying the cliffs that surrounded them.

“We could scale the rocks?”

The suggestion was quickly dismissed by Rayla’s incredulous scoff. “I could scale the rocks with Zym, but you don’t really give the impression of someone suited to rock-climbing. Or any endurance sport, for that matter.”

Callum bristled, affronted. It was undoubtedly _true_ , yeah, but it wasn’t nice of her to just say it like that. After all, he didn’t go around pointing out all of her shortcomings. Like her complete and utter irrational hatred of water.

“What if we flew?”

“What?”

Rayla’s face scrunched up in an almost comical display of confusion. “We can’t _fly_ , Callum. What do you think we’d have done if we could?”

“No, not like that!” Callum brightened. “I mean, what if you scale the cliffs and get some kind of... magical Xadian mount, like Phoe-Phoe?”

“Yeah, no, that’s not gonna happen. You can’t just pull flying mounts out of nowhere.”

They lapsed into anxious silence, Zym chirping and nudging their arms impatiently, as the sun climbed ever-higher into the sky, beating down on the weary group with ever-growing intensity. Rayla groaned, and Callum rubbed his temples. They were supposed to already have been in Xadia proper now. Not dawdling around, wasting time because of a giant damn dragon.

Callum surveyed the rocks. A deep reddish in colour, they rose ruggedly starkly out of the sandy, golden landscape. The weathered folds and strata in the rock would make good purchase for climbing, and, provided that he chose those that jutted out of the ground at a less steep incline, it wouldn’t be too difficult to climb, even for him. The sheer height of the rocks and pillars was somewhat off-putting, but he’d take them over the dragon that would most likely eat him any day.

“I say we climb,” Callum said, finally. “If it doesn’t work out, we can try something else, but it’s our least risky option and at least we’d be doing something and not sitting around, waiting for Xadia to come to us.”

“Fine. But we’d have to go quite a way off to be sure to be out of his range of perception,” Rayla frowned. “And Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“If you fall,” she said slowly, “I will kill you.”

A nervous laugh escaped Callum. “Noted.”

With that settled, however grudgingly on Rayla’s part, they gathered themselves and began to trek. The true impassable nature of the Xadian border was becoming frustratingly clear to Callum, as the rocks increased in size at a worrying rate the further they strayed from the path and their original crossing point.

“Still feeling up to it?”

“Yeah, of course!”

Rayla rolled her eyes at the insincerity of his bravado. As long as they stuck to the rocks with a slighter incline, and took breaks at regular intervals, even the squishy prince could scale the rock face.

Probably.

Once Rayla decreed that there was no way that Sol Regem would ever be able to detect any trace of them at their distance, they turned their attention to the cliff face.

“Ready?”

“Um...” Callum hesitated. “Can’t we pick a less steep rock?”

“What are you on about? This one’s practically for beginners!”

“Maybe for a highly-trained elf assassin, yeah, but I’m... an un-highly-trained sort-of mage. I’m going to fall off.”

“Are we climbing or not?” Rayla exploded. “You can’t just switch plans on a whim like that!”

“Sorry! Sorry,” Callum held his hands up in surrender. “We’ll climb.”

“Good. Give me Zym.”

“Sure!” Callum passed the backpack the baby dragon had settled in to Rayla, and she shrugged it on, earning an annoyed chirp from the baby dragon.

“Calm down, Zym,” Rayla placated, though the effect was somewhat ruined by her drawing her blades. “We need to climb the rocks, and I’ve no idea whether or not it’s a flight you can make, and I’d rather not put it to the test.”

Zym gave an affirmative - albeit slightly reluctant - chirp.

Callum didn’t get the problem. He’d much rather get bounced around or Rayla’s back than fall to death.

“Okay,” Rayla said, turning to Callum once the backpack had been secured. “Do you know how to climb?”

Climbing, as it was, turned out to be a lot easier than Callum had expected, even with Rayla’s convoluted instructions. Once he got into the rhythm of it, he found it relatively easy to clamber up the side of the rock, alternating between using his arms and legs for purchase, and even finding new, stable hand- and foot- holds was not as difficult as he’d feared. The dust and sand on the rocks coated his sweaty palms, adding friction and counteracting the slipperiness of his palms. The air up here was fresh, and Callum found himself enjoying the climb, despite the gnawing dread at the back of his mind that if he slipped and made one wrong move, he would surely fall to his death.

“You doing alright?” Rayla called down to him, and Callum only just caught himself from looking up in time to avoid being blinded by the harsh light of the sun beating down on him.

“Better than I thought I’d be,” Callum called, trying his level best not to look down.

By the time he’d scrambled over the lip of the cliff, the sun was well and truly high up in the sky, and Callum was drenched in buckets of sweat. His arms were stiff and weak, and he found that he was trembling, though whether that was from exertion or nervousness was anyone’s guess.

Rayla was the one who spoke first. “So, we have good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“See that valley? That’s our path to Xadia. We won’t have to climb as much once we’re in, so we’ll be able to walk across.”

“Just like if Sol Regem hadn’t been there at all!” Callum brightened, wiping his sweaty brow.

“Pretty much,” Rayla agreed, glancing at the mage. “But now for the bad news. We’re going to have to climb back down.”

Callum groaned. If only he’d known more spells, he could have used one to simply leap off the edge on the rock and slow his descent. Unfortunately, using Aspiro for such a feat seemed like a recipe for disaster that even Callum wasn’t optimistic enough to attempt it.

“Can we rest for a bit?”

Rayla rolled her eyes theatrically, as Zym, now free of the backpack, nuzzled into her arm. “Fine.”

“Thanks.”

As Callum collapsed to the ground, Rayla shifted to position herself beside him. “You know, you did a lot better than I thought you’d do.”

“What, did you think you’d have to fling yourself down the cliff again to save me?”

“Yeah,” Rayla admitted.

“Oh.”

They sat on the edge of the rock for a few minutes more, Sol Regem barely a hazy blob in the distance. Callum raised his arm to the trim of his jacket, debating taking it off, but ultimately decided against it - it would be bothersome to have it around his waist as he was climbing. The sun was getting rather hot, though, and Callum was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

He squinted at the valley. With the looming rocks surrounding it on all sides of its twisting course, it was sheltered from most of the sun’s rays, and Callum was willing to bet it was comfortably cool.

“Let’s go,” he said, getting up, and walking over to the sloping edge of the rock.

“About time,” Rayla grumbled, depositing Zym back in the backpack, much to the dragon’s chagrin.

Rayla seemed almost to flow down the rock face, much to Callum’s frustration, and he attempted the far slower and more nerve-wracking process of climbing down. Now significantly more exhausted and less able to see what was ahead of him, he found himself clinging on to the rock for dear life, his previous unfounded confidence drained away almost completely.

“You know,” he gasped, as he let himself drop the last metre to the floor. “I regret my decision entirely. Next time, we’re going through the dragon who wants to eat me.”

“Stop whining. It’s all smooth going from here,” Rayla said, eyebrow raised, but her tone was too light-hearted to be serious.

The trek through the valley was not as simple as Rayla had claimed, as several rockfalls and blocked paths meant that some climbing had to be done, but it wasn’t quite as unpleasant as the original climb had been, and Zym could roam freely, too.

Callum was very glad that they hadn’t encountered this obstacle earlier on in their journey, before they’d trekked up and down mountains as they crossed Katolis, otherwise he doubted he’d have had the ability to make the initial climb.

At least they hadn’t had Ezran with them. Callum shuddered at the mere thought of a ten-year-old boy to making that climb.

“You alright there?” Rayla called, catching Callum’s attention.

“Oh- Yeah, sure! Just... lost in thought, a little, I guess.”

“Well, hang in there, because we’ll be in Xadia proper soon,” Rayla said lightly. “I was hoping to make it home by noon, but we’ll be there by the evening, if my calculations are correct.”

Callum grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m writing Rayllum out of the story; I’m not trying to make a statement by it - I’m not against the ship, I’m not very comfortable writing romance :)
> 
> I am trying to make a statement by completely overhauling the Sol Regem thing, and that statement is that if he smelt Callum in this fic, it would be a very short fic indeed.
> 
> This is my second fic and first multichapter fic - constructive criticism is appreciated!!
> 
> At one point I accidentally said that Callum’s eyebrows disappeared into his head rather than his hair. To quote a friend, Eyebrows Absorbed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum and Rayla arrive at the Silvergrove after bypassing Sol Regem.

The trek through the unfriendly Xadian border had taken far longer than either Callum had anticipated, and he was sure he was thoroughly sweaty, filthy, and exhausted by the time they reached the greenery of the forest that Rayla said housed her home, Selenvale.

This did not, however, curb Callum’s childishly excited reaction to the Xadian wildlife. In fact, his excited exclamations seemed to be more enthusiastic than was characteristic of him... which was a not insignificant amount of enthusiasm to begin with.

“Oh my gosh, Rayla, even the grass is magical! And the plants... And the dirt! No way! Magic dirt!”

“Of course it’s magic,” she interrupted, glancing over at him and seeing both him and Zym knee-deep in foliage, with Callum waving that magic cube of his at everything within his reach. “It’s Xadia. Everything’s magic.”

“That’s so awesome!”

Even being as tired as she was after the climb, Rayla couldn’t bring herself to roll her eyes at Callum’s excitement. She supposed, since she’d grown up there, she’d gotten so used to there being magic anywhere that it honestly was no big deal. But for someone like Callum, who’d lived his whole life in the magically barren human kingdoms... Well. It was no surprise he was so in awe of Xadia, where magic - a scarce commodity amongst humans, Rayla reminded herself - was everywhere. Even, as Callum had exclaimed, in the dirt.

“Where do you find the energy?” Rayla asked curiously.

“Huh?” Callum perked up, turning his attention on Rayla. “Oh, uh... I guess... It’s so amazing that there’s so much magic, that it doesn’t really matter?”

Rayla raised her eyebrows, half sceptical, half surprised.

“But even the dirt’s magic, Rayla! It’s magic dirt!”

“That’s just how Xadia is,” Rayla repeated, unsure of what else to say.

“It’s still amazing! You’re so lucky that you were born here, Rayla, it’s so... so...”

“Rendered speechless?” Rayla smirked.

Zym chirped, poking his head out from a nearby bush.

“Zym likes it too!” Callum exclaimed, as the dragon leapt onto his shoulder, as which Rayla grinned.

“He’s home now,” Rayla grinned, as she plucked a fruit from a nearby tree and held it out to the dragon. A look of wistfulness crossed Callum’s eyes.

“You alright, Callum?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I just...” Callum trailed off. “I guess... I was thinking of home too.”

“Oh. Right. I guess you did just have to up and leave, and...”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Callum said hastily. “I just got a little... lost in thought. So, where are we headed?”

“My home!” Rayla brightened. “The Silvergrove.”

Her smile faded somewhat and her brow furrowed as she said the word.

“What’s wrong?”

Rayla hesitated. “Just... Going back...”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... I don’t know if they’ll be... receptive to us.”

Her explanation seemed somewhat lame, even to her own ears. Callum, to his credit, seemed to pick up on an unvoiced worry, and Rayla could see sympathy in his eyes.

“Don’t worry! When you get back, you can show them Zym, and they’ll all be tripping over themselves to help us!”

Apparently Rayla had given him too much credit. “When they see me and Zym is one thing. On the other hand, when I show up with my new human friend? That might not be such a popular decision.”

“Oh,” Callum frowned, before grinning. “Well, you know who is going to be popular? Your brand-new elf friend!”

Rayla caught on quickly. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes! You’ve heard of Human Rayla,” Callum declared, before turning around and rooting around in the nearby shrubbery. “Now, get ready for... Elf Callum!”

He turned around with a flourish, and Rayla groaned in good-natured exasperation. “No...”

“Oi, maite!” Callum grinned, in a strong, overemphasised Elven accent. “Oi’me an Earth elf! All me best maites are trees!”

“Oh... Are you trying to be an Earthblood elf?”

“Yis, Oi’me an Earthblood elf! Oi jist love huggin’ trees en’ havin’ an Earth arcanum!”

Rayla bit down on a snigger.

“You’re overdoing it, Callum.”

“Oh... I am?”

“Just a tad. Just... Try to keep a low profile when we get there, okay?”

“Okay!”

The Silvergrove wasn’t exactly close to the border - the desert-like landscape lay far behind them, behind a not insignificant stretch of forest - but it was by no means far from it, either, unlike the Katolis castle. Whilst it had been, a two-week trek across the kingdom to the Xadian border, give or take a few days, the Silvergrove was close enough to the Moonstone Path that they reached it just after nightfall, even with the added detour of the cliffs further lengthening the journey.

The Xadian wildlife had gotten steadily more ancient and looming as they ventured further and further towards Rayla’s hometown, lending an air of mystery and dusky gloom to the forest. It was only fitting, Callum mused, since they were approaching a settlement of Moonshadow elves. Perhaps it was a side effect of the moon magic in the area? Or maybe they just chose the location for the atmosphere.

Callum followed Rayla across a particularly large... branch or root, it was too large for the young mage to tell, when she stopped so abruptly that Callum just barely managed to avoid bumping into her, lost in thought as he was. Zym scrambled to maintain his perch on Callum’s shoulder.

“We’re here!”

Callum followed her gaze, expecting to be met with the sight of an elven town of some sort, with towering buildings of unfamiliar architecture and bustling streets filled with white-haired heads going about their day, but was met with only cliffs and forest growth.

Confusion flooded his features as he hesitantly glanced at Rayla.

“Here? Uhh... I like it! It’s very... uhh... modest!”

Rayla laughed, shooting Callum a friendly grin. “It’s an illusion, silly! It’s hidden completely from outside view by an enchantment. We need to perform a kind of ritual, a spell, to get past it. It’s like having a magic key.”

“Oh, of course! Illusion magic is Moon magic! That makes sense,” Callum realised.

“Exactly!” Rayla grinned. “Now for the key! Come on, just do what I do, look!”

Rayla positioned herself on the bark, and gestured for Callum to do the same. Standing opposite her, he adopted her position, albeit slightly more clumsily, and copied her movements as she began to dance.

Mirroring her graceful moves, Callum found himself dancing in tandem with her, lilac runes lighting up under their feet. From the corner of his eye, Callum could see buildings slipping into existence, as they entered the illusion under which they were sheltered.

The Silvergrove was more or less what he had expected - a serene, quiet town, with architecture that seemed softer and more natural than the strong, towering, stone castle walls the he was used to. Despite the late hour, Moonshadow elves were still out and about on the streets - which made sense, the moon was out at night, after all, and Moonshadow elves were connected to the moon arcanum.

“Oh, do you want to see where I went to school? Where I grew up? Or where I used to train? Or, if you’re hungry, I can show you a place that does the best Moonberry Surprises!”

It seemed it was Rayla’s turn to be invigorated with a sudden burst of energy.

“What’s in a Moonberry Surprise?” Callum asked, intrigued.

“I can’t just tell you what’s in a Moonberry Surprise, Callum! That’s the whole point of a surprise!”

“Right, yeah!” Callum laughed, before casting a nervous look around. Something was off. As Rayla continued happily rambling, Callum quickly realised what it was... None of the elves milling around the streets had faces.

“Rayla?”

“What is it?”

“Something’s wrong. Look,” he said, pointing at the faceless Moonshadows.

“Oh, no,” Rayla gasped, enthusiasm quickly melting away and giving way to shock. “Oh, no, no, no!”

“What is it, what’s wrong with them?” Callum asked, green eyes filled with worry. Zym let out an anxious chirp.

“It’s not them, it’s me! I’m a ghost!”

“A ghost?” Callum frowned. “Don’t you need to be dead to be a ghost?”

“No, no, it’s...” Rayla took a deep breath. “Ghosting is a form of banishment. They can’t see me, or you and Zym either, since you came in with me. It’s what they did to my parents when they abandoned the Dragon Guards.”

Callum laid a comforting hand on Rayla’s shoulder. “But... You didn’t run away, or anything! It must be a mistake!”

“Yeah... Yeah! It must be a mistake! Come on! There’s one person who’ll understand!”

Rayla took off, running towards one of the buildings, and Callum and Zym followed suit.

“Wait! Where are you going!”

“To see Ethari! He and Runaan raised me after my parents...” Rayla trailed off. “But he always had faith in me! He wouldn’t have done the spell, he always believed in me!”

“Right!”

Rayla approached the door to the building and pushed the door open, but it was pitch-black inside. In the gloom, Callum could make out weaponry and tools - this was a forge.

“He’s not here,” Rayla said, bitterly. “He’ll be at home.”

“Do you want to go there?”

“I guess I’ll have to.”

Callum followed Rayla, unsure of what to say, sharing a worried look with Zym, who chirped quietly. A sour mood hung in the air as the trio ventured a little further into Silvergrove, Rayla leading the way up an idyllic street that Callum really didn’t have the heart to admire at the moment - not when Rayla was so upset.

“Ethari!” Rayla burst in through the door of another house, shoulders tense. Callum hung back, hesitant to enter unprompted. “Ethari, they’ve made a mistake, they’ve made me a ghost!”

Rayla disappeared into the house, her voice still carrying to Callum’s ears. “Ethari!”

“Rayla?”

Another, deeper, voice, reached Callum’s ears, as Rayla and Ethari began a muffled conversation. It appeared Ethari hadn’t ghosted Rayla after all. Relieved, Callum took a seat on the stairs and scratched Zym’s chin. That was good. Callum couldn’t imagine how much it would have hurt to have the closest thing one had to family literally banish them from their sight, especially on a false assumption.

The conversation died down, and Callum heard footsteps approaching.

“Callum?” Rayla’s voice was weak, emotional. “Come in.”

Cradling Zym in his arms, Callum stood and followed Rayla indoors, where she led him to a small, cozy kitchen. Inside sat a tall, brown-skinned Moonshadow elf with shaggy white hair - presumably Ethari.

A moment of silence passed, before Rayla spoke. “Ethari, this is Callum, and the Dragon Prince, Azymondias.”

“Uhh... Hi! Oi’me Rayla’s Earthblood elf friend!” Callum tried. “Trees to meet you!”

“Trees to meet you, too,” Ethari deadpanned, voice warm.

“Don’t humour him, Ethari.”

Zym leapt up onto the table, and Ethari held out his hand for the Dragon Prince to sniff. Whilst he was preoccupied with the dragon, Rayla turned to Callum to fill him in on what he’d missed.

“Ethari said I was ghosted because the others... They didn’t make it back. They assumed I’d ran away and abandoned them.”

“But how did they know the others...” Callum trailed off.

“Ethari enchants special lilies for assassins who are sent on dangerous missions. If the assassin dies, the lily sinks,” Rayla explained.

“So, when they saw that all the other lilies sank...”

“They assumed that Rayla had abandoned the mission,” Ethari finished, turning his attention to the pair.

“Just like my parents,” Rayla mumbled.

“Rayla,” Ethari said softly. “I know it’s unfair, but don’t dwell on it. There’s nothing we can do now but move forward.”

“Right. You’re right. We need to take Zym back to his mum.”

“How?” Ethari questioned softly. “You’re travelling with a human, Rayla, and humans aren’t permitted in Xadia. What will you do?”

Callum and Rayla exchanged a look, before Callum spoke.

“We thought we’d stick to travelling in the forest, like we did in Katolis with Rayla,” he said.

“That might have worked in human lands, but in Xadia, you’re far more likely to run into wandering elves. A lot of us live in the forests, here,” Ethari pointed out.

“Oh...” Callum said. That hadn’t occurred to him, and, judging from her expression, it hadn’t occurred to Rayla either.

“It’s getting late,” Ethari interrupted. “And you’ve likely had a long day. Get washed up, and I’ll prepare the spare room for Callum. We can talk more in the morning.”

“Good idea,” Rayla said, pulling him into a quick hug. “Callum, come with me.”

Obediently, he followed Rayla up some stairs to the bathroom, whilst Zym trailed after Ethari as he went to prepare the spare room.

“Go take a bath, and I’ll grab you one of Ethari’s nightshirts to sleep in,” Rayla said, pulling a towel out of one of the cupboards. “Put your clothes over there, and I’ll wash them with mine. We do both smell like we’ve been sleeping in the forest for weeks.”

“Oh- okay.”

Callum would be the first to admit that a bath after weeks of the kind of substandard hygiene that only those travelling exclusively within the forest for an extended amount of time was quite refreshing, though he made care not to spend too much time hogging the bathroom. Rayla had, as promised, left some of Ethari’s sleepwear outside the door for Callum to take advantage of overnight. As he passed Rayla on the way out, he couldn’t help but notice her red-rimmed eyes.

“The spare room’s that door over there, behind the stairs,” she said, pointing towards it.

“Thanks,” Callum replied, before turning to face Rayla properly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said shortly. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Callum said awkwardly, as Rayla retreated into the bathroom.

As he ambled slowly down the stairs, he caught Ethari’s eye from across the landing. The elf gave Callum a small smile, which he returned before entering the spare room. Zym had already nestled down on the bedsheets, and Callum tucked himself in beside the baby dragon, who greeted him with a happy chirp.

It was nice, sleeping in a bed again, he thought, cuddling up to Zym as he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If my community decided to collectively banish my adopted daughter for not committing regicide, I simply would not participate. Rip to canon Ethari but I’m different.
> 
> It just seems excessively mean.
> 
> Also my main reason for having Ethari not ghost Rayla in this is because he’s sweet and nice and i want to write more of him and Rayla and also Callum interacting.
> 
> I wasn’t kidding when I said this fic was going to take a while to get to the point. I’m very slow :’)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast is had. A conversation is also had. Breakfast is nicer than the conversation.

Callum woke slowly and comfortably the next morning, his eyes telling him he’d slept in a little more than usual. As a general rule, Callum was something of an early riser - he had a habit of waking before the dawn was fully over, and many a sketch in his sketchbook featured the sun as it rose slowly over Katolis.

The comfortable weight of Zym, who had apparently risen a while ago, became apparent to Callum as the dragon leant over him, standing atop him as he waited for him to get up.

“Morning, Zym.”

The dragon gave an eager chirp as Callum rolled out of bed, still clad in an elven shirt far too large for his admittedly lanky frame. Pushing open the light, wooden door, he was greeted by the image of Ethari in the kitchen, brewing a pot of tea. He approached the open kitchen area slowly and awkwardly, Zym leaping up to his usual spot on Callum’s shoulder.

Evidently Ethari heard him coming, and he turned and gave Callum a reassuring smile.

“Good morning... Callum, was it?”

“Good morning!” Callum stood up straighter, causing Zym to readjust his balance. “And yeah, I’m Callum. My name is Callum. Like you said. Hi.”

Ethari chuckled, and picked up the teapot, moving it to the table. “Rayla’s still asleep. She’s not much of an early riser.”

“Really? She always seemed to be up early enough when we were travelling through Katolis.”

“Oh, make no mistake, Rayla is capable of waking early, but given the opportunity to sleep in, she’ll always take it. Used to drive Runaan mad.”

Runaan... the name was familiar. Callum had definitely heard it before, and, as he thought back, there was really only one elf that he’d heard Rayla call by name other than Lujanne and Ethari.

Callum had an unsettling suspicion that Runaan had been one of the elves to kill King Harrow... more specifically, the long-haired elf who Rayla had tried to dissuade from the assassination.

Not, of course, that there was any way he was going to be bringing that up with Ethari, who - by some miracle - seemed to tolerate the sudden presence of a human in his house, which was more than Callum suspected any of his family back in Katolis were wont to do had the situation been reversed.

Before the silence could settle, Callum spoke up. “Ez is kind of like that too! He’s my younger brother. Half-brother. He can get up really early when he’s motivated, but if he’s not, it’s like trying to raise the dead. Uhh. Figuratively.”

Ethari gave Callum a warm chuckle, diffusing the tension completely. “Is that so? Well, Callum, I assume that you’d be wanting breakfast?”

Before Callum could overthink what the appropriate response would be - whether it would be rude and demanding to say yes, or whether he’d offend Ethari by declining, and inevitably end up putting his foot in his mouth - the question was answered for him by the rumbling of his stomach.

“I assume that’s a yes,” Ethari answered, and Callum hesitated.

Ethari was evidently a bit shrewder than Callum had though, as he caught the hesitation. “What’s wrong.”

“Uhh...” Callum stalled, choosing his words. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but what do elves eat? Because Rayla had a weird berry juice thing - not like, weird weird, but more like... unusual weird, because humans generally don’t just have drinks for meals, so there’s probably a difference between what humans and elves eat, and I’m not trying to insinuate anything unkind or anything, I just... I wanted to know. Was that rude? Sorry. That was probably rude.”

Chuckling lightly, Ethari walked over to a cupboard. “Don’t worry, you weren’t being rude at all. It’s only natural a question, I suppose - we’re not really in a position for our species to be exchanging recipes. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how to compare either, but I can tell you that moonberry juice isn’t a typical elven meal, more of... a snack, or rations, I suppose. Assassins and the like take it with them on missions because it’s very nutritious but also compact when stored, so it can be easily transported. That’s why Rayla had it.”

Peering over his shoulder into the cupboard, Callum was met with the image of a vast array of foodstuffs, some familiar whilst other not so much.

“Oh,” he said.

“Should we prepare breakfast before Rayla gets up?”

“You want me to help?” Callum said.

Ethari raised an eyebrow. “Yes, unless that’s not ideal for you?”

“No, no, it’s fine, I just...”

“You didn’t expect me to be so casual about a human casually showing up on my doorstep that I would ask him to help with the food?” Ethari finished wryly, and Callum blushed slightly in embarrassment. “Not to worry. Given the... history... between our species, it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to wonder. The truth is, though, if you were willing to leave your homeland and your station as a prince, and travel alongside an elf without question to return the Dragon Prince to Xadia, I have a hard time believing that you would have any kind of ill will towards elvenkind. And, if you are nothing but cordial and civil to us, it would be rather unbecoming of us to be rude and dismissive towards you. Does that answer your question, Callum?”

“Uh... I think so,” Callum said, a slightly confused expression evident on his face. “I just thought... A lot of humans really hate elves for no reason, so I kind of assumed elves would be the same?”

Ethari gave a soft chuckle. “I never said I held the opinion of the majority.”

“Oh.”

“Here,” Ethari said, swiftly changing the subject. “We’ll make moonberry pancakes. They’re similar to normal pancakes, except we put moonberries in the batter. Rayla likes them, though they’re really my husband’s favourite.”

“That sounds nice!” Callum grinned earnestly. And they did sound nice. Out of the two princes, Ezran had definitely been the one to inherit their mother’s sweet tooth, but pancakes had always been a particular favourite of Callum’s, so much so that, despite his royal upbringing decreeing that he needn’t learn to cook for himself, he had attempted to learn to make them. His best efforts had, however, always been rather mediocre, and on bad days he ended up being kindly asked to leave the kitchen. Not that Ethari needed to know that.

“So, the elven recipe may be a little different to what you’re used to,” Ethari explained, voice as gentle as ever, “but the general gist of it ought to be at least similar to what you’re used to.”

Cooking with Ethari turned out to be fun, and far more easier than what he was used to. His instructions and tips were far more comprehensible than those of the castle staff - perhaps, Callum mused, because Ethari was used to working with terrible chefs. He didn’t exactly know much about Rayla’s cooking skills, or Ethari’s husband’s, for that matter, but he felt like he could at least hazard a guess that at least one of them were as lethal a chef as he was.

Soon, the smell of freshly baked pancakes had filled the house, and Callum was caught between keeping Zym from sticking his nose in the batter and preventing either of them from getting in Ethari’s way as he cooked the pancakes when Rayla walking in, with a bed head so messy that it made the hairstyle she’d sported when Callum had accidentally zapped her look positively neat by comparison.

“Hey, Rayla,” he greeted, as Zym leapt at the almost-woken Moonshadow elf to greet her, and Ethari bade her a good morning as well.

“Morning’,” Rayla yawned, giving the dragon an affectionate scratch. “Smells nice.”

“Prince Callum has been assisting me in making moonberry pancakes,” Ethari said, flipping one of said pancakes. “Here, Rayla, you can take this batch and serve them up. There’s plates on the counter.”

With another yawn, Rayla ambled over to the counter and pulled out some plates, just as Ethari placed the last of the batter in the pan.

“Split them up into even portions,” Ethari said sternly, shooting Rayla a pointed look.

“I know how to serve pancakes, Ethari,” Rayla grumbled.

“And make sure to put something out for Prince Azymondias. We can’t have the Dragon Prince going hungry.”

“I know, I know,” Rayla retorted, sounding far more like a teenager than Callum had ever heard her be. “Hey, are you sure Callum would like moonberry pancakes? They might be a bit odd to a human.”

“Try me!” Callum said eagerly. “I love pancakes. They’re my favourite food.”

“Okay then. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The pancakes were, in fact, heavenly, and Callum could only barely restrain himself from wolfing his entire portion down in five seconds flat. However, his mood was slightly dampened when Ethari decided to bring up the conversation they hadn’t had last night.

“So, how are you planning to get the Dragon Prince and Callum to the Sky Spire without jeopardising the mission, then? We mentioned yesterday that the woods won’t be as safe a haven in Xadia as they were in Katolis, and I don’t want you getting into trouble. What will you do?”

“I could use the Elf Callum disguise-” Callum began, but Rayla cut him off.

“No you can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because nobody in their right mind is going to fall for it and mistake a human with two twigs on his head for an Earthblood elf.”

“Oh,” Callum said, before brightening. “So it’s not the idea of a disguise that’s bad, it’s the quality of the disguise itself?”

“Basically,” Rayla relented, looking unhappy. “Ethari, could you help us with getting Callum an elf disguise?”

Ethari turned to focus on her, surprise written all over his features. “I dabble in moon magic, Rayla, but I doubt I’d be able to pull off something like a convincing, full-body illusion.”

“Wish we’d thought of this at Lujanne’s,” Callum mumbled under his breath.

Ethari scratched his chin, seeming contemplative. “I could see if I could fix up some kind of disguise on the interim for you, but I doubt anything I could come up with would hold up at close range, and you can’t avoid elven contact forever.”

“So, what do we do, then?” Rayla inquired impatiently, tapping her fork on her empty plate. “We can’t just magic Callum invisible for the journey. Besides, he can do primal magic. He can use that as proof if anyone challenges us!”

“People would assume Callum had a secret primal stone in that case, Rayla, not that he was a suspiciously human-looking elf. That aside, maybe we can give Callum temporary disguise whilst you go get a more permanent and effective solution,” Ethari mused.

“What?” Callum and Rayla chorused, the former’s expression one of confusion, whilst the latter’s features were a display of scepticism.

“This war is not as black-and-white as it may seem. There are elven sympathisers and some spies of ours living in various locations within the the Pentarchy, and vice-versa - Prince Callum could not possibly be the only human currently in Xadia, though I will admit that it is far easier to sneak from Xadia into the Pentarchy than vice-versa. If you seek out a sympathetic mage, then you can have them cast an illusion on Callum.”

“Easier said than done,” Rayla grumbled. “Those guys stay hidden for a reason. It’d be easier just to cross back into Katolis and ask Lujanne to help us.”

“Lujanne?” Ethari queried.

“A moon mage living in the moon nexus in Katolis. She was nice, and great at illusion magic. Ugh, we should have just asked her to do something for us before we left so we wouldn’t have to worry about this when we got here to Xadia.”

“Things are always much more clear in hindsight, Rayla,” said Ethari. “But you can’t change the past, only the future.”

A brief moment of silence passed, punctuated only by Zym chirping from Rayla’s shoulder, where he’d chosen to settle,

“I’m a mage,” Callum said, breaking the silence. “If we could go to a library or something and get a moon source, like a kind of budget primal stone, I could learn to cast an illusion.”

“Are you sure, Callum?’ Doubt laced Ethari’s gentle voice as he countered Callum’s argument. “Illusion spells are very difficult to master. You may not be able to pull one off.”

“Callum’s a great mage!” Rayla interrupted, indignant. Callum, meanwhile, bit his lip.

“I’ve got nothing to lose by trying, right? And besides, it’s not like we have any kind of time limit.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Ethari sighed. “Okay. You and Callum go to a library or academy and try to teach Callum illusion magic. But Rayla, you have to promise me two things.”

Rayla’s brow furrowed. “What are they?”

“Firstly, if you’ve had no luck after a few weeks at most, promise me you’ll try to find another solution. Just because you’ve no time constraints doesn’t mean you should push your luck chasing an impossible solution.”

“Alright. And the second?”

“You’re washing the dishes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels like filler, it’s short, and I’m unhappy with it. Here’s hoping the next one turns out better.
> 
> My favourite part of this chapter was describing pancakes with berries in the batter as delicious as if the thought of mixing textures like that doesn’t make my skin crawl.
> 
> Up next: another walk through another forest :)
> 
> I hope nothing inconvenient happens in the forest :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story thus far! Comments are appreciated!!


End file.
